Vegreville Food Bank Co-ordinator Expecting a busy Christmas Season

Vegreville Food Bank Co-ordinator Expecting a busy Christmas Season

Michelle Pinon News Advertiser

While the Christmas season maybe a festive time for many people, for some, it is a time of high anxiety and stress; perhaps this year more than any with all of the difficult challenges of COVID- 19 along with high unemployment.

The Vegreville Food Bank is one community organization that helps people in need not just at Christmas, but throughout the year. Joanna Karczmarek, Coordinator of the Vegreville Food Bank Society, says the fall was very busy, but saw a decrease in clients in 2020. However, she expects to see a higher number of clients in 2021.

Since the beginning of January and up until the end of November the Vegreville Food Bank has served 882 unique households. She explains that unique is the total number of households that were served, and visits are the total number of hampers that were distributed.

Individuals are eligible to receive a food hamper once every three months and families are eligible to receive a food hamper once every two months.

A total of 12 new volunteers were recruited since August. Another 6 to 10 volunteers are needed at this time.

The following is a breakdown in statistics for the year to date:

January 1 – March 10, 2020 22 percent of the unique households served were new. 313 unique individuals from 138 unique households, 160 household visits.

March 11 – August 31, 2020 22 percent of the unique households served were new. 264 unique individuals from 112 unique households, 165 household visits.

September 1 – Nov 27 2020 25 percent of the unique households served were new. 305 unique individuals from 113 unique households, 143 household visits.